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San Diego County’s median home price hit another record in June with an imbalance of supply and demand continuing to push costs up, CoreLogic reported Tuesday.

The median home price reached $543,500, increasing 9.8 percent in a year and marking the third month in a row of record-breaking prices.

Chris Thornberg, economist and founding partner of Beacon Economics, said prices will continue to increase in San Diego because affluent buyers, such as tech workers or researchers, are willing to pay top dollar for scarce housing.

“Home prices are not set on the basis of average income in a community,” he said. “Home prices are set on the basis of the average buyer. When you have a lack of housing — how most of coastal California does, like San Diego — the people who want to move there are willing to pay.”

June’s numbers are still far from the peak of the housing boom. When adjusted for inflation, the November 2005 peak of $517,500 equates to more than $644,000 in today’s dollars.

All types of homes in the county hit new nominal price peaks in June:

The median resale home price, considered the most important part of the housing market because it has the most sales, was up 9.2 percent in a year to a median of $595,000 with 2,800 single-family houses sales. The previous peak of $590,000 was set last month.
The resale condo price also set a new record of $412,500 — increasing 7.4 percent in a year — with 1,294 sales, $12,000 more than the peak set in April 2005.
Prices for newly built homes increased 19 percent in a year to a median of $787,000 with 217 sales. The previous peak of $775,500 was reached in December 2015.